Has PM Bill English smoked marijuana?

Mr English sat down with Newshub's Europe correspondent Tova O'Brien during his first overseas jaunt to push New Zealand's trade agenda.

And while he got to know his European colleagues, O'Brien sought to get to know him better in a one-on-one Q&A session.

In it, he's quizzed on a range of things including his favourite band (Split Enz), movie (The Dark Horse), beer or wine (wine), rugby or cricket ("I'm much better at rugby"), his favourite colour ("a kind of burnt orange - the Dutch soccer colour") and whether he'll go to the Big Gay Out (Yes, if he's invited).

But he was left sitting firmly on the fence on the question of how many times he'd smoked marijuana.

"I don't think I've ever smoked marijuana."

But after he was pushed on his "Bill Clinton-type answer" to the question, Mr English came back with a more definitive "no, I haven't".

In 1992, then Arkansas Governor and Democratic Presidential candidate Mr Clinton famously said he'd tried marijuana "a time or two", but didn't like it and "didn't inhale".

Mr English says he doesn't have any skeletons in his closet either.

"[As a] busy politician and family man you don't have time for skeletons, you're just in the closet trying to find the other shoe."